Citation

Cozza SJ, Guimond JM, McKibben JB, Chun RS, Arata-Maiers TL, Schneider B, Maiers A, Fullerton CS, Ursano RJ. J. Trauma. Stress 2010; 23(1): 112-115.

Affiliation

Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, MD.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/jts.20488

PMID

20146393

Abstract

Combat injury in military service members affects both child and family functioning. This preliminary study examined the relationship of child distress postinjury to preinjury deployment-related family distress, injury severity, and family disruption postinjury. Child distress postinjury was assessed by reports from 41 spouses of combat-injured service members who had been hospitalized at two military tertiary care treatment centers. Families with high preinjury deployment-related family distress and high family disruption postinjury were more likely to report high child distress postinjury. Spouse-reported injury severity was unrelated to child distress. Findings suggest that early identification and intervention with combat-injured families experiencing distress and disruption may be warranted to support family and child health, regardless of injury severity.

Language: en